World briefs

CHINA  A top official at iconic Chinese state-owned liquor maker Moutai has been snared in the country’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign. Kweichow Moutai Group deputy general manager Fang Guoxing is under investigation for serious violations of discipline, the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee for Discipline Inspection said.

AFGHANISTAN A suicide bomber rams a car packed with explosives into a British embassy vehicle in the Afghan capital, killing at least five people, including a British national, the Interior Ministry says. An Afghan national who was driving the vehicle was among four Afghans killed in the attack.

NEPAL South Asian heads of state attending their first summit in three years reach a deal on energy sharing, but fail on two other economic agreements during a retreat where Indian and Pakistan leaders shook hands.

MALAYSIA’s leader says a colonial-era law curbing free speech will be retained and strengthened, backpedaling on a pledge two years ago to abolish the Sedition Act as part of political reforms. The law, introduced by the British in 1948, criminalizes speech or actions with an undefined “seditious tendency,” including that which promotes hatred against the government or incites racial discord.

INDIA  Heavily armed suspected militants fight a fierce gunbattle with soldiers in the Indian portion of Kashmir, and three civilians are among the nine dead, authorities say. Some of the militants were still holed up in an abandoned bunker in Jammu region and were firing at the Indian soldiers.

S KOREA-JAPAN A Japanese reporter pleads not guilty to charges of defaming South Korea’s president by reporting rumors that she was absent for seven hours during a ferry disaster in April because she was with a man. The indictment of Tatsuya Kato of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper has raised questions about South Korea’s press freedoms.

BELGIUM Lawmakers added to Google’s regulatory woes in the European Union after they voted for the EU to consider splitting up search engines. The European Parliament backed a resolution asking the European Commission – which is investigating Google for possible antitrust violations – to consider “unbundling search engines from other commercial services.”

SCOTLAND Britain’s main political parties have agreed to grant Scotland new tax and spending powers to fulfill a promise of greater autonomy made before a recent independence referendum.